The Browns seemed to have locked in John Harbaugh as their new head coach, though he has not been interviewed yet.

NFL Insider Dan Labbe discussed the possibility of the Super Bowl-winning coach coming to the Browns. He said that team owner Jimmy Haslam won't back down from spending money to land the league's top available coach.

"The big thing is, we know this: Jimmy Haslam is not afraid to spend money. They could have John Harbaugh come in, and he could offer him a Jon Gruden-style contract that he signed with the Raiders, which I think was 10 years, $100 million. Jimmy could offer that."

Harbaugh signed a three-year contract extension with the Ravens in March 2025 and was expected to be paid a salary of $17 million until 2028. But failing to win the AFC North and playoffs led to him getting fired.

For now, he has kept himself out of interviews for this week. However, his agent did receive calls from teams within 45 minutes of the firing, as per reports. The Cleveland Browns are one of the teams reportedly calling the head coach.

John Harbaugh could be perfect for Cleveland. He led the Ravens to 12 playoff berths in 18 seasons, Super Bowl XLVII, and six AFC North division championships. He is also among the few NFL coaches to win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons.

On top of that, he was born in Cleveland, grew up as a fan of the Browns, and has admitted that his close family is “hardcore Browns fans.” But what does the former HC want?

NFL Insider reports what John Harbaugh requires to coach the Browns

In the ESPN Cleveland Podcast, Tony Grossi reported what the Browns need to offer Harbaugh if they want him as thier next head coach.

"I talked to a league insider who speculates on what he's heard about Harbaugh's prerequisites to even be interested in your job. 20 million a year. 10 million dollar assistant coach budget.Total authority over the roster. And also would like to select his own guy to lean on personnel guy."

To sum it up, John Harbaugh would need $20 million per year, a $10 million staff budget, which might be fine by Jimmy Haslam. But it gets tricky over the next two requirements: total authority over the roster, and would like to select his own GM.

What do you think?

Written by

Reyansh Dubey

Edited by

Joyita Das